


Heart of Glass

by dev_chieftain



Category: Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
Genre: Gen, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-20
Updated: 2012-08-20
Packaged: 2017-11-12 12:58:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/491278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dev_chieftain/pseuds/dev_chieftain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following their work as Renegade Rangers, Niko is obsessed with finding out just how far undercover Goose was willing to go. Zachary steps in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart of Glass

Afterwards, when Shane is sleeping and Zachary has taken the controls of the ship, she steps back into the cramped quarters where they take their rest. There is one long seat here, enough for four passengers or four very tired Galaxy Rangers, its padded bench a far cry from comfortable and its safety harnesses made of some durable, itchy material that is a distant cousin to the nylon polymers it looks like.   
  
He sits as far from the airlock door as he can on the bench, strapped into the harness and well and truly unconscious, his black outfit wrinkled from the way he has slumped against the wall at his left. His head hangs forward, and when she reaches out to touch him, he flinches, as if he might wake.   
  
"Just stay put for a second, would you, Shane," she mutters to herself, keeping still until she's sure he will not wake. They breathe together, his coming faster in an unconscious adaptation to blend in with her until they are in perfect synch.   
  
It would be better, Niko thinks, to watch the past through some object that had been there before. She would have preferred it. Lacking the option, though, there is Shane: and Shane was definitely witness to anything she might have interest in seeing. She sinks her fingers into his hair, lightly scratching his scalp. It's for the good of the team, she tells herself. If she can't banish this vision she has of him and-- and that renegade, she might go crazy.   
  
She might go crazy.   
  
The fingers of her free hand twitch at her belt, unsure, and she watches him breathing, mimicking her in his little ways. She wouldn't be surprised to find his pulse matches hers, as well.   
  
Niko holds her breath, and flicks her fingers along the belt buckle to strengthen her second sight, opening a door to the recent past.   
  
_Shane's memory is off-color; sepia or over-exposed, perhaps, like film about to burn away. There is Daisy Omega, but she looks different than Niko had remembered her, with a face that is forgettable, aside from a strong chin. Her voice seems to resonate like an aura around her when she speaks, her hands more clearly defined than any other part of her as she moves.  
  
She talks with her hands, flicking her fingers and making gestures with nearly every word. It's almost hypnotic, the way she dances around with just her hands. There's a buzzing sound whenever Shane speaks, and that's his voice, soft and cautiously kept under control. Daisy though, her voice is loud and bright and red, and when Shane starts dancing with her in truth, she leans up, pulls down, and steals a single kiss.   
  
Shane breaks away too soon, though he tries to cover it. Niko feels as bewildered as he does, though she wonders why he is surprised, when it was him doing the seducing in the first place. Where he goes, Daisy follows, until she has him pinned against a wall, one denim-and-leather-clad leg pressing between his, forcing his footing wide and unstable.  
  
"I thought you were after a kiss, Shane Gooseman. Was I wrong?"  
  
"Not far wrong, Daisy," his voice breaks, low and uncertain, "but not quite right, either."  
  
They draw apart, and Daisy's hand catches the buttons on Shane's coat. "Let's play twenty questions, then, and I'll see if I can't get it."_  
  
When she breaks out of it, Niko is fully aware of the warm arms catching her, even if her sight is treacherously fuzzy. Whoever it is is scowling, but he's hard to make out. She takes a not-so-wild guess.   
  
"Shane."  
  
"Is asleep, luckily for you," hisses Zachary Foxx as her eyes finally start to focus. His left hand's grip is painful, while the right only squeezes her shoulder. Biting her lip, Niko endures, meeting Foxx's eyes with a challenge.   
  
He doesn't bother answering it. Instead, he squeezes a little harder, until she actually hisses, gritting her teeth against the pain. "--Captain--!"  
  
"It's unfair, isn't it?" Foxx's voice is matter of fact and calm, his expression incongruous. He looks enraged, and her right shoulder tells her she ought to believe his face, not his voice. "It's unfair for me to be using these powers I have on a friend. It might even be unfair that I use them against my enemies."   
  
All of a sudden, the grip is gone, and Niko stumbles back a step, grimacing.   
  
"But I know who my enemies are." The question is obvious, but Foxx doesn't bother asking it aloud. He holds her gaze for several more seconds, and then turns back to the pilot's chair in the room behind him.   
  
Niko thinks of what she saw, and what she didn't see, and clenches her hands into fists until they ache. 


End file.
